There Is None Like It | Marcus Mecum | 7 Hills Church

1st Samuel chapter 21, let's look at verse 8. And David said to Ahimelech, is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I've neither brought my sword nor any weapons because the king's business required haste. And so the priest said, the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is no other except that one here. The priest is saying, this is all I got for you. If this isn't gonna work, I can't help you. And David said, there is none like it, give it to me. I wanna talk to you on that phrase, there is none like it. This story, for those of you who maybe aren't clued into exactly what's happening with David, he's very young. He's running for his life, he has nowhere to turn. He is the most wanted man at this moment in all of Israel. The king has a personal vendetta against David. He's hunting David down. He's truly got David on the most watched list. They are trying to kill David. And so David, of course, living on the run, he's tired, he's hungry, he's in a forced fast, I guess you would call it. He's frightened, he's exhausted. And he thinks to himself, if I can just get to God's house, if I can just get there, then I'm gonna be okay. And I can relate to David, I can relate to going through things in life, and just having that sense that

if I could just get to God's house, and I'm not talking about a building, but just the sense of there are things that I'm facing out here that I don't have the abilities, I don't have what I need to know how to deal with it. But I know that in the things of God, in the house of God, maybe it's one of God's people just speaking, saying something or praying, or maybe it's a message that's preached, or maybe it's just a moment in God's presence. I can relate to having that sense that I know that what I need to get through something, that I can't find it just anywhere. I can't find it outside of the things of God. And so that's where David is at. David is drawn to the house of God, he shows up, and he walks in, kneels down at the altar, worried about his future, has questions that he can't find the answer to, problems that he has no way of knowing what to do with them. And he kneels down at the altar, and as he's there, him and the priest have some conversations, and he gives him some food, and so David gets some strength. And then David says, I've got these battles going on out here, I've got these things that I'm up against. By chance, do you have anything in here that can help me with what I'm facing out there?

And that old priest turns around, and he goes back behind the altar, and he finds something that's wrapped in some old rags, and he brings it out to David and said, David, I don't know if you can remember this, but this has saved your life before. David, this has protected you in times past, this has been something that's given you great victory. And he takes that old cloth, and he begins to unwrap what he's handing David, and he says, this is all I have for you. If you want it, you can have it. This is all I have to give you, I have nothing else to provide, this is it. I don't know what's going on out there, but this is all I have to help you face it. And he hands him what is called the sword of Goliath. And David said, there's none like it, give it to me. There's none like it, give it to me. The word of God is like the sword of Goliath. If you come to church, and I'm glad you're here, and you think, again, I'm not the. Jesus is our great high priest, right? But if you think that what I have to give you in here lies anywhere outside of this book, if you leave here without anything other than my focus to tell you this is what you need to face any battle you got out there, I have nothing to give you in and of myself. And by the way, no preacher on the planet does either.

We have one thing that is our responsibility to give you and it's actually an extremely easy job and it gets hard because we think there's another way to do it. This is what we do. Take this, love it, live it, cherish it. You fight your battles with it. You heal your hurts with it. You discover your friendships through it. It gives you wisdom for decisions. This is it right here. It's all I got. If you want it, take it. So the priest called it the sword of Goliath. Gideon would call it the sword of the Lord. Paul would call it the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Hebrews says it's active and alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. But is that your attitude today? There's none like it. Is that your attitude today? Give it to me, that's what I want. That's what I'm seeking. What's your attitude towards the Bible? What's your attitude towards the Scripture? I believe one of the reasons that David was so drawn to that sword was because the blood of Goliath's defeat, those stains were still on that sword.

In other words, it was not an untested sword. It was not an unproven sword. And I just wanna be real clear that this is not an unproven sword. It has been stained with the blood of many giants. This book has untold amounts of demons that it's slayed. It's pushed back the forces of darkness. There's principalities and powers that have in one way or another been defeated because this sword was used. And David knew he could not use an untested, unproven weapon. And I know the same thing that I need something that's really going to work for the battles and the enemies that I'm facing. And there's none like it. Give that to me. This is it. This is what I use to face those battles. They say that in ancient times, you could look at a sword and based upon the shade of the sword, if it had been in many battles and it shed much blood, there was a darkish purplish coloring to it and shade to it. And so when someone's out at battle, they can look across the battlefield and the shinier and the more silver the sword is, the more they know that's probably the person I wanna target. But the more stained that sword was,

the more proven they knew the fighter was, the soul and the more terrified that person would be. And I want you to know the enemy is terrified of the church learning one thing, that this is the greatest weapon we have. And it is a stained, proven, tested weapon. This is why Jesus, when he was in the wilderness, fasting and praying, he could have done all kinds of things. He just showed, this is our first glimpse of him really in a situation where there's spiritual warfare. He could have called down angels and all kinds of things he could have done, but what's he do? What's the first thing Jesus shows us about himself and how he fights the enemy? It is written. Everything the enemy brings against him, Jesus says it is written. We complicate it, don't we? Jesus said, this is how you do it. It's not too old school. to memorize a Bible verse. Oh, this, it's a quiet church. I knew I was in the right place. The word, John 1, became flesh and dwelt among us. The word became flesh, that's Jesus. So how I treat the word reflects how I feel about him and how I treat him. If I disregard this, if I ignore this, if I throw this to the side,

if this is just left back, wrapped in some old cloth, sitting on some shelf, just dusty, it's a reflection. Well, no, I love the Lord, I love the Lord. How do you treat it? Do you love it? Do you cherish it? Do you desire it? Do you want a connection with it? Do you respect it? This is what nourishes you. Man does not live by bread alone, is what he said, but by every word. This gives you life, this gives you sustenance, this gives you strength, this gives you what you need to fight. Very good. There's none like it, there's none like it. OJ Simpson, you might remember the trial that he went through. Of course, it was a nationwide trial that the whole world was able to watch. And during that trial, they put one of the world's forensic experts on the stand. And this expert was repeatedly asked this question by the interrogators, one way or another, they were trying to figure out, so exactly what's your expertise in the forensic field? They wanted to know if he has a degree of any type, and he replied that he had no degree. They asked him, so what educational institution

did you graduate from? And he replied, I did not graduate from any type of institution. They wanted to ask him what his credentials were then. And he was very clear, he said, I have no credentials. They asked him, well, who certified you in this field? And his reply was, I have no certification. They wanted to know then, well, what tests did you take to prove that you have these qualifications? And his reply was, I took no test. And they were getting to the bottom line, they wanted to know why is the court, they should listen to someone like him, and why he should be considered an expert. And his reply to them was, because I wrote the book. He said, I took no test because I made the test. I studied no book, I wrote the book. I didn't have to attend the class, I wrote the book, they teach in the class. And the reason that you and I can learn to trust the Bible is because he wrote the book. I don't think you heard me, he wrote the book. Man did not write this book. You say, well, yeah, I think that man did write it because there's a man-made author. Well, no, the Bible is not, that's not clear. The Holy Spirit breathed on them as they wrote. Man could have never put this book together, nor man would have. No man would have put this together.

It's a divine book, it's sacred, it's holy, and he wrote the book. If you were to put Jesus on the stand today, and you were to say, Jesus, we're trying to really understand exactly why you're the expert we should trust. Would you tell us a little bit about yourself, maybe where you were born? Well, I was born in Bethlehem of Judea. Where were you raised, where did you grow up? Well, I grew up over in Nazareth, small little humble area. Well, what kind of education do you have? What kind of institutions did you attend that we should trust your expertise in all of this divinity God stuff? Well, I attended no great institutions. Well, then, would you at least help us understand what your theological degrees might be? Surely you have some type of certification, or maybe there's a denomination that's ordained you. No, I have no such ordination. Then what exactly makes you qualified to be the expert, sir? Could you help us understand why we should trust your expertise? in the area of God, his response would be, I am God. Because he wrote the book. Well, help us understand, you know, you talk about truth so much and that you're this expert on truth.

You know, do you have a teaching certificate? Did you go to school to be a teacher? Have you ever taught at any kind of great institution? And his reply would be, I have no teaching certificate. I've taught at no great institution. I have taught on a hillside. Under a tree, on a boat one time. Well, tell us about what your students are like. If you're a teacher of truth, surely you have some students. And he said, well, I maybe have like 12 students, but one of them is about to flunk. Well, Jesus, why should we trust that you have the expertise to talk to us about truth? And he would say, because I am truth. I wrote the book. Well, what about, you know, all this creation stuff and the stars? And we hear you talk about the birds and the oceans and the, we hear you talk about the mountains. We hear you talk about the trees and the stars. Have you ever taken a class on astronomy, for example? No, I've never taken such a class. Have you ever read a book on astronomy? No, I've never read such a book. Well, then why should we trust you in these areas? And he would say, because I made the stars. I created them. He wrote the book.

Well, are you an expert on justice? I mean, have you ever gone to law school? Do you have a legal degree? Have you ever passed the bar? Why should we trust you in the area of justice? And he would let us know because he is the judge. He wrote the book. We could go through over and over and over all these things, these questions we have, these things that we work through, these worries that we have. What about heaven? How do we know that Jesus is the only way to heaven? Haven't Jesus, you studied all the various proposed ways of getting to heaven. Have you ever read the book of Mormon? No, never read the book of Mormon. Have you ever read the watchtower? No, never read the watchtower. What about the Quran? No, definitely not. Well, then how should we believe that you're an expert on all these proposed ways of going to heaven if you've never studied all these proposed ways? And he would say, because I am the only way to heaven. I created the heavens and the earth. He wrote the book. To help you understand that he is clear, he is God, he is creator, he is judge, he is the way, the truth, and the life.

And he makes that clear to us because he wrote the book. To help you understand a little bit more about this wonderful, precious, holy book that we're talking about called the Holy Bible. And there is none like it. Its description is best called the word of God. Acts 4.31, Romans 10.17, Ephesians 6.17, Hebrews 4.12, 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. All over 500 times in the Pentateuch alone, the Bible, the scriptures are referred to as the word of God. Over a thousand times through the prophets, it says, this is the word of God. 4,000 times in your Bible, this book is alluded to as the word of God. 44 times in the New Testament alone, this is the word of God. There's none like it. 1 Peter 1.23 says that we're born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, which is the living, enduring word of God. It is not the word of man. It is not the word of who we would wanna listen. It's not my word. This is not my word that I'm pointing you to. I'm giving you some of my words, but hopefully at the end, I'm pointing you to the word of God. It's his word. It is perfect.

It is absolutely perfect. It is without air. I've got air. error. You've got error. Our interpretations may not be perfect, but the Word of God is incorruptible and incontestable, and there is none like it. Second Timothy 3, 16, all scripture is given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Everybody say all. All scripture. Matthew 4, man does not live by bread alone. And one more thing that's incredibly interesting about the Word of God is Revelation chapter 19, verse 13 says in heaven, Jesus's name in heaven. If he goes walking by and the angels whisper in one another's ear, who's walking by, they say that there goes the Word of God in heaven. Jesus's name is the Word of God. The Word became flesh. So the Bible is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. In other words, the Lordship of Jesus and the Word of God, they stand together. The Lord of the Word and the Word of the Lord, you can't separate them. There's none like it. There's none like it. Jesus and the Bible are not identical, but they are inseparable. You see, you can separate yourself from your Word. You can say one thing and do the other. But Jesus Christ and his Word, you cannot separate. He does not say one thing and do another. His character and his Word are one in the same. Both Jesus and the Bible came from God. Galatians four and verse four, second Peter one in verse 21. They both came from heaven. They both will live forever. They're both unchanging. Hebrews 13, eight and Matthew five, 18. Both are light. John eight, 12, Psalm 119 and verse 105. Both are absolute truth. John 14, six, John 17, 17. I want to be clear that the Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is the Word of God. They are not identical, but they are the same. This is the point. If you go to read this book and you don't find Jesus, reread it. He and it, you can't separate them. If you get in this, if you'll fall in love with this, I'm not talking about just knowledge ever learning and not coming to the knowledge of the truth. I'm talking about a desire to know Jesus. I want to know you. I want to know your heart. I want a relationship with you and I want a relationship with your Word. You cannot fall in love with this and not fall in love with him. You say, Marcus, I still don't quite understand how is Jesus in the flesh and these black and white pages, how are they kind of one in the same? Well, let's go back

to the beginning in Genesis and we'll go all the way to revelation in just a few minutes. You think I can do it? All right. If you were to go to Genesis, he's right there. You can reach out and touch him as the promise seed of Genesis. He's the Passover lamb in Exodus. He's the scapegoat of Leviticus. He's the brazen serpent of numbers. He's the lawgiver of Deuteronomy. He's the prophet, priest and king in Joshua. He's the judge of the judges. He's the kinsman redeemer of Ruth. He's the anointer of all kings in Samuel. He's the king of kings in Kings. He's the great historian in Chronicles. He's the great rebuilder of the temple in Ezra. He's the rebuilder of the wall in Nehemiah. He's the savior of the Jews in Esther. He's the friend that sticks closer than even a brother in Job. He's the song of the Psalms, the truth of the Proverbs, the preacher in Ecclesiastes, the great lover in the song of Solomon. He's the mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. of Isaiah. He's a weeping prophet of Jeremiah. I don't think you got it yet. Let's keep on going. He's a street preacher of lamentation. He's a rebuilder of the millennium temple in Ezekiel. He's a stone cut without the hands of man in Daniel. He's the lover of Hosea. He's the one promise to come to Bethlehem of Judah in the minor prophets in Matthew. He's the king of kings. In Mark, he's the suffering servant. In Luke, he's the son of man. In John, he's the son of God. He's the power of the church in the book of Acts, the dynamite power of God in the book of Acts. He's the gospel of grace in Romans. He's a restore of our carnal nature in Corinthians. He's the one that tore the veil in Galatians. He's the heavenly one of Ephesians, the sufficiency of Philippians, the great shadow of Colossians, the coming savior that we read that's coming once again in Thessalonians. He's the great appearing God of Timothy, the blessed hope that's heaven of Titus. He's the best of all in Hebrews. He's the fulfiller of the law in James. He's the rock of ages in Peter. He's the assurance of our salvation in all the epistles of John. And he is the one that keeps you from falling and presents you blameless and faultless. Are you here before the presence of God and it gives you exceeding joy in the book of Jude. And he's coming back again on a white horse to establish his kingdom's reign once and for all in the book of revelation. He wrote the book is what I'm trying to say. We praise his name because he wrote the book. We sing in his name because he wrote the book. We pray in his name because he wrote the book and we should be committed to spread the fame of that name because he wrote the book. Look

at the person next to you and say, he wrote the book. And because of that, there's none like it. Give it to me. Give it to me. I love that that priest said, I don't have anything else to offer you, David, just this old sword back here and some old cloth. Been a long time since anyone in church pulled it out. But if you want it, this is all I got for you, David. Give it to me. There's none like it. Give it to me. Give it. See, when the Bible speaks, God speaks. You say, Marcus, I've not been hearing from God. I need a word for I don't I don't know what God wants. Let me show you how to do it. You want to hear God speak? I haven't felt his love, Marcus, I haven't felt his love. There's none like it. I was 16 years old when they handed me my very first Bible. And I was a weirdo teenager, was weird, weird, weird kid. Because I just there was never a moment you'd find me without my Bible everywhere I went. Every I went to the halls at school, had my Bible. Everywhere I went, my senior pictures, you know what I was doing? This right here, hold my Bible. Then the class and everybody else is goofing off, you know, I was doing as a little corner of the class, read my Bible. I was thinking about that this morning. I don't want to ever stop being that weirdo. If I'm out of my mind, it's for him. Anyway. There's none like it. I'm telling you. Give it to me. This is what it's about folks, you never outgrow it, it's about this and this is what I want us to do as a church. I want us to commit over these next 14 days of the fast, whether you're fasting with us or not, to open it. Say what? I may open it and not get anything from it. I may open it and not understand it. That's not the point, you've got to just give yourself to it. Sometimes I read it and it's nothing. Sometimes I read it and I'm bored out of my mind. I don't want you to look at your spouse right now. But I know you love them, but not every day is fireworks. Come on. We're talking about real life. We're not talking about goosebumps and angel feathers on your shoulder. We're talking about a relationship, a commitment, a desire to know what God has for you and that relationship comes through just showing up and being in the Word. So we're fasting, we're praying, but let's read the Bible together. So 14 days, 14 days left. You may be reading through the New Testament, but you might be here and you're not reading anything. So at a minimum, if you've already got your plan, stay on your plan. But if you don't have anything, you're like, well what do we do if we want to do this together, what

do you want me to do? This is what we're going to do. And I'm going to do this with you. I've got my own Bible reading that I've got, but I'll do this with you. Let's just read the book of Acts together over the next seven days. And if you don't get through it, no big deal. You're like, Marcus, that sounds like a lot because I, you know, it's going to be more than just a few pages. And you're like, where do I start? Cause I just don't know if I can do all that. Well, if you want to, if you just are like, you've never read the Bible and you want to start somewhere, then if you just go to the book of Jude, just go to the table of contents, find the book of Jude. You want to use a table of contents cause you're not going to find it. Cause it's just a couple of paragraphs, but you know what you can do? You can actually, within maybe two minutes say, I read an entire book of the Bible. And this is why, because sometimes if I start getting exhausted because I'm reading through like a long book, like, and I'm like, this is never going to end. Sometimes you feel like it's just going on and on. I'll just flip over and read a short book because it gives me momentum. Just go to Philemon or something like that and just read or just get it over. Man, there, there we go. I start, give yourself some momentum if you need to, but just go to, and again, I'm just, I'm that type of person. I got to get stuff done. Like I got to check it off. Like I'm moving forward. So go find a short book, but let's read the book of Acts. Remember that story about David's mighty man, Eliezer. Remember it when he got done with the battle, the Bible says that his hand was clinging to his sword, that they actually had to come and peel his fingers off of the sword. And that's what I'm praying happens over the next 14 days is that you'll get a grip on the Bible and we'll go into this year and we won't be able to let go of what God wants to do because God's still raising up some mighty men. So put your hand on your heart. We're going to come to the altar like David did. So Jesus, do you have anything for us? Our great high priest, do you got anything for us? We got some battles. We've got some heartbreaks. We got some temptation eyeing us down. We got a big old roaring lion seeking whom he may devour right outside those doors. What do we do? Make a fresh commitment to the old sword. And so Jesus, we're gathered here saying there's none like it. Give it to me in Jesus name. Help us fall more in love with your word in these next 14 days. Hide it in our heart. Teach us to quote it, to memorize it, to speak it, to pray it, to live it, to love it in Jesus name. Praise the name of Jesus. Every eye closed, every head bowed. But you're here today and you'd say, Marcus, I'm not right with God.

You're here today, and if you were to. Die for some reason this afternoon when you leave the church service, and we know that, God forbid that would happen, I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just trying to. I'm trying to be as incredibly clear over these next few moments for your sake, not for my sake, this is for your sake. That if you were to stand before Jesus Christ today as judge, you would not be ready. You would say, Marcus, that's me. I'm not ready to stand before the Lord. Let me help you real quick. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us. So that is to always be our stance to know. That it's near. And our job is to be ready. To have our hearts ready. And know at any moment, if I live for many years, great, but if I do not, I'm ready. But you're here and you'd say, Marcus, I'm not ready. Would you pray for me? I've not been to the cross. I've not surrendered my life to God and. To his grace and his mercy and his plan for my life. And today you would like me to pray for you. You want that new beginning on the count of three. Lift your hand as high as you can. One, two, three. Throw that hand up as high as you can. Keep it raised. Keep it raised. Keep it raised as high as you can. Many hands going up.

I love that hand. I think that hand speaks so much of the fact that you came today and that God was here. And he's changing things in your life. He's changing things in your heart. And you're going to leave here back to your old life. But you're not going to be the old you when you go back. Amen. Let's all pray with those who lifted their hands. Put your hand on your heart. Say, Jesus. I don't know all that this means. But I come to you. Just like I am. And I acknowledge. I'm not ready. I've not served you. I've lived for myself. And I repent. Just means I turn from. That way of life. And I want a relationship with you. I need forgiveness. I need to be washed from the inside. I believe that you're God's only son. And that you died on a cross to pay the price for my sin. But you rose again from the dead. And your promise is that I can be like you are. That I can be your son. I can be a son of God. A child of God.

Because of the price you paid. And we all said amen. Let's give the Lord a good hand clap.